Many people haven't thought much about the connection between their body's sensory awareness and extra-sensory perception. They often consider ESP extra-ordinary and practiced only by adepts or psychics. But, it's actually available to anyone who pays attention to their inner senses. Although we're well acquainted with the external senses (sound, sight, taste, touch, and smell), the internal senses often get overlooked. In order to access your inner knowing, you'll need to become familiar with your inner senses. Let me introduce you.

Your body has four distinct sensory ways to relay information from the inside. Your vestibular system records balance and movement; proprioception registers position and location; nociception detects pain and discomfort; and interoception connects you with internal awareness and emotional feeling. Though all of the inner senses contribute to inner knowing, interoception is the direct link to what we classically think of as the sixth sense or extrasensory perception. For simplicity, let's just call this your body sense.

Because your body sense has been integral to your physical experience since the beginning, you may think of it as no big deal. But, when it comes to being intuitive, it is. Healers and sensitives have resourced their body's inner knowing for precognition, healing, and psychic ability for centuries. More recently, using imagining technology, researchers have tracked the relationship between internal sensory awareness and intuitive behavior. You may experience a bit of this when a hunch plays out or you think of someone just before they call. You may see it show up in an emotional situation, choosing to respond with your heart rather than your head. Even in a poker game, your body sense may be helping you "know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em." All of these could be just pure chance. But they could also be your ESP at work.

ESP has several different channels of communication. Depending on how they present, these are clairvoyance, clairaudience, claircognizance, and clairsentience. Clairvoyance, known as second sight, is the one with which you're probably most familiar. But, the other avenues for sensory perception are actually more common. Perhaps, getting a hunch is a kind of inner knowing or claircognizance. Intuiting the emotions of others could be clairsentience, and hearing an inner voice telling you lay down your cards could be an example of clairaudience. When reading the room modifies your delivery, you're definitely being clairsentient. To explore some of these avenues, all you need to do is listen in.

Listening in to your body sense is a good way to bolster your ESP potential. You can listen in while doing mundane tasks, letting go at the end of the day, or anytime you feel emotional. Listen in during romance. Listen in at work or play, Listen in when you exercise or meditate. Without judgement, observe what's going on. Notice how comfort/discomfort, agitation/calm, excitement, joy, and sorrow feel. As you listen in, observe how your body communicates. Often irrational, ridiculously literal, and rooted in imagery, metaphor, and symbol, body speak will require translation. For instance, when your body shuts down and clams up, it's saying no. When it's in the flow, so are you and all is okay. When you hear a story and you get goosebumps, pay attention. If phrases such as, "Got off on the wrong foot," "Do something half-heartedly," or, "A knee-jerk reaction" come to mind, perhaps you need to get balanced, be in touch, and calm down.

ESP Explorations:
You can have fun experimenting with your body sense. Just pose a simple yes-no question, turn inward, and pay attention to what you feel, hear, or sense. Here are some ways this might play out in real life:

• Listen to your heart. If you want to know if your heart is on board with any decision, bring your internal awareness to your heart center and ask. If the area gets compressed, blocked, or agitated, it's asking you reconsider. If it feels open and calm, the answer is yes.
• Listen to your gut. Placing a hand on your stomach, think about a project, relationship, or investment, and notice what happens. If you feel a tense, fluttering, or a sinking feeling, your intuition is saying be careful. If your belly feels soft and content, the answer is yes.
• Listen to your emotional body. If you're with someone, even a stranger, and your body gets a sudden hit of emotion, ask yourself if this is yours or not. If it's yours, it'll feel familiar and informative. If it's not, it's telling you something about the other person's emotional state.
• Listen to your inner voice. If you're mulling over a question, listen to the words that pop up. These can show up as random sayings, something overheard, or the lyrics of a song stuck in your head. Why not mine these words for meaning to get your answer?

Think how many times you've been told to listen to your heart or trust your gut or go with your feelings. Perhaps this is where ESP begins. To take it a step further, set a goal to pay attention to your inner wisdom and put it to use in everyday ways. Let it help you make decisions, fine tune communication, be self-aware, and change your mind. Don't be afraid to put it to the test. To start, let your body sense lead the way in the little things and evaluate the results. Like any work in progress, remember that you're learning as you go along. The more you use it, the more accurate it becomes. Putting it to use simply makes it get stronger. Pretty soon, you'll trust it as valued partner for the big things. When you align intuition with intention, you have a powerful combo.

Social distancing has given us time to slow down and pay attention close at home. Why not take some time and explore something old to find something new? All you have to do is direct your attention inward and be a curious observer. Exploring a bit of ESP is no longer fringy, esoteric stuff. It's literally part of who you are.